By Rex Crum
Technology shares mostly rose Wednesday, with Amazon.com Inc.
among the advancers after an analyst upgraded the online retailer's
stock.
Amazon shares (AMZN) rose $5.08, or more than 6%, to $88.57
after Bank of America/Merrill Lynch analyst Justin Post raised his
rating on Amazon's stock to buy from neutral. Post said the company
is in a strong position to maintain its lead in the online commerce
market.
With Amazon in the lead, the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose
21 points to 2,124. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) and
the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) also advanced.
Among leading tech stocks, gains came from Apple Inc. (AAPL),
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), IBM Corp. (IBM), Dell Inc. (DELL) and
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ)
However, Adobe Systems Inc. failed to join the rally, falling
due to reaction to its latest acquisition plans.
Adobe (ADBE) fell $2.05 a share, or almost 6%, to $33.57 after
it said late Tuesday that it would buy Internet-services company
Omniture Inc. (OMTR) for $1.8 billion. Omniture shares surged more
than 25% to $21.77.
Adobe announced the acquisition at about the same time it posted
third-quarter earnings and sales that fell from a year ago.
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) was also in the red, giving up 58 cents a
share to fall to $22.07 ahead of the software giant's quarterly
report, due after the market close.